


(life)guarding my heart

by lulumina



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Lifeguards, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Cuban Lance (Voltron), Fluff and Humor, Gay Keith (Voltron), Keith & Shiro (Voltron) are Siblings, Keith (Voltron) is Bad at Feelings, M/M, Minor Adam/Shiro (Voltron), One Shot, Pining Keith (Voltron), Socially Awkward Keith (Voltron), broganes, lance has freckles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-03
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-06-19 16:31:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15513912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lulumina/pseuds/lulumina
Summary: Alternatively titled, Keith Is Too Unsure To Flirt So He Pretends To Drown So He Can Talk To The Cute New LifeguardShiro drags Keith to the city pool to socialize, he gets transfixed by the cute new lifeguard and doesn't know how to talk to him.So he pretends to drown.(Keith isn't the best at flirting.)





	(life)guarding my heart

Keith sat in the shade of a pool umbrella, watching his brother Shiro chat up a handsome lifeguard with messy brown hair. A safety break was being conducted, and the pool deck was crowded with sweaty parents and kids whining for ice cream. _Come to the pool, he said. It’ll be fun, he said. ___  


Yeah, right.  


Keith shifted in his deck chair and felt the rubbery straps peel from his calves. The temperature was measuring in the high 90s and climbing higher every hour. The chlorinated water helped a little to cool Keith down, but when it was packed with people, there wasn’t much more he could do than awkwardly tread water in one place and try not to touch anyone’s bare skin.  


Keith dug in his bag to grab his wallet. It was hot, he was bored, might as well get something to eat. He slipped his flip flops on and strode over to the concessions stand, where he bought an ice cream cone and ate it sitting cross-legged on the deck chair.  


He had come to the pool hoping to be able to get some laps in- after all, he did have a meet the next weekend. He had been disappointed by his performance in last Saturday’s swim meet, getting only fourth on his 500 yard freestyle against an easy-to-beat team. Keith was one of the Marmora Blade’s best swimmers, and he could tell his coach was disappointed that he had received such a low ranking.  


However, when he climbed out of Shiro’s truck, he was greeted with swarms of families trying to escape the heat by visiting the community pool.  


Normally, Keith would spend the afternoon at his typical health club, doing laps in a cool, peaceful setting. But Shiro had other plans, saying that Keith needed to get out into the sun more and meet new people.  


Keith grudgingly agreed to tag along, secretly hoping that something interesting would happen. His summer had been dull so far, weekdays spent training and weekends competing. He needed a change of pace after spending every day with Shiro. Sadly, the only people you could meet at the pool are toddlers and their moms or seventy year old grannies baring way too much skin.  


However, Keith did have one hope to lead him forward. In the car on the way to the pool, Shiro had mentioned that Adam had hired a new lifeguard, a boy Keith’s age named Lance. Apparently he was starting work today, but Keith hadn’t yet seen him. All the lifeguards out now were girls, which Keith wasn’t into, or guys that didn’t meet Shiro’s description.  


Tall, lanky, curly brown hair, freckles. Cuban. Cute. Keith hoped he liked boys.  


“Attention please!” A bubbly male voice crackled from the loudspeakers. “The regulated 15 minute safety break period has now ended. You may reenter the pool in an orderly fashion. Thank you!” There was a brief pause, then the voice began again. “Oh, my first announcement. That was fun. Wait, it’s not off? What button do I p-” with a crackle of static, the voice disappeared.  


Keith cracked a smile and finished up his ice cream cone, then grabbed a book from his bag and flipped it open to the marked page. There was no use trying to swim now, and it was pleasant enough in the shade (if you could ignore the coating of sticky substance on the chair.)  


“The safety break is over, Keith. You can swim now.” A voice said.  


Keith looked over his book to see Shiro standing in front of his chair, looking a bit pink in the cheeks. Sunburn or blush- Keith couldn’t tell. Probably the latter.  


“No, thanks. I think people’s sweat would make me wetter than the water itself. I’ll pass,” Keith responded, burying his nose back in the book.  


“What about Lance?”  


Keith froze. “What?”  


“Lance. The lifeguard I was telling you about in the car. Didn’t you hear him over the loudspeaker? He’s just about to take his shift.” Shiro kept talking, but Keith didn’t hear him anymore. He shoved the bookmark back into his book and tossed it into his bag, then stood up abruptly.  


“Anyways, Adam and I are going to grab a snack. Do you want anything?”  


“Uh, what? Oh. No. I had ice cream. Enjoy your date.” Keith said distractedly, searching the lifeguard chairs for a certain curly haired boy.  


Shiro chuckled and grabbed some cash from his bag, then headed off to meet Adam by the snack shack.  


Keith scanned the changing room doors and lifeguard office until he saw him. A laughing, curly haired boy walking onto the pool deck. He was wearing baggy red swim trunks and a bright red whistle on a lanyard around his neck. A pair of patterned shades rested on the top of his head, and the tip of his nose was smudged with white sunscreen. His skin was light brown and dusted with perfect puddles of freckles adorning his shoulders and arms.  


He was beautiful. Keith couldn’t look away.  


Lance twirled a noodle shaped life preserver at his side while he walked, and effortlessly swung himself into his lifeguard perch, looking over the deep end. He took a swig of water from his bottle and then settled in to do his job.  


Jolted back to his senses by another lifeguard blowing their whistle, Keith looked around frantically. Had anyone seen him staring? Hopefully not.  


What to do now? Keith wanted desperately to talk to this boy Lance, to learn who he was and everything about him. But he assumed that it wouldn’t exactly be the best introduction to march up to his chair and confess his heart’s desire. Keith glanced back at Shiro, who was now splitting a tub of French fries with Adam at a picnic table. He seemed to be cracking jokes, based on how hard Adam was laughing.  


Keith couldn’t do that. He wasn’t the charmer or the class clown. So what could he do?  


He did have one idea… but it was stupid and bound to fail. So why were his feet walking him to the pool steps, into the shallow end, and then paddling out to the deeper water? Directly in front of Lance’s chair?  


He couldn’t answer that if he tried.  


Once Keith was situated directly in Lance’s range of vision, he felt his legs give themselves out and his body sink underwater. He started thrashing around, acting as if he couldn't swim.  


Lance blew his whistle and then let out a yell to clear the water. He took a graceful leap into the water and Keith suddenly felt something being pushed under his chest- a rescue tube. He was pushed to the side of the pool, where he used one hand to grip the wall. He caught his breath and looked up from the red fabric.  


Stormy grey eyes met ocean blue.  


Lance was saying something, but all Keith could focus on was the droplets of water sparkling on his skin. His face looked _so soft _. His eyelashes were logged with water and his curly hair was plastered to his forehead.__  


“Hey! Can you hear me?” Lance said.  


Keith shook himself out of his daze and smiled shakily. “Uh, yeah. Sorry.”  


“Are you okay?”  


“Yeah,” _I am now. _“Thank you.”__  


“Just doing my job,” Lance smiled back. “The name’s Lance.”  


_I know that. _“I’m Keith.”__  


“Well, Keith. Maybe get some swim lessons before you attempt to conquer the deep end, huh?”  


Keith felt himself flush pink. “Oh, uh, sure. Yeah.”  


“We do offer them here, you know.”  


“Do you teach them?” _Stupid stupid stupid no no no stop shut up why did you ask that ___  


Lance chuckled. “Unfortunately, no. I’m new here and I only teach the preschoolers.”  


_What did you expect, Keith? ___  


“But, I can let you know if I ever expand my teaching hours. What’s your number?”  


_ASKHSSJ WHAT _“My number?”__  


“Yeah, so I can contact you- You know what, I’ll just give you mine.” Lance hopped effortlessly out of the pool and offered Keith his hand. Keith took it and pulled himself from the water, admiring how the water dripped from Lance’s graceful limbs.  


“I will be _right _back!” Lance promised, and jogged into his break room. He emerged a few moments later with a pen and a pad of paper, then stopped to scribble a series of numbers onto it. He ripped the paper from the pad and handed it to Keith, grinning.__  


“There you go, man! Text me and we can keep in contact.”  


“Okay! Okay. Thank you. For, uh, saving me, and for this.” Keith awkwardly waved the paper around.  


“No problemo. I would love to keep chatting, but I do have a job to do. Text me!” Lance swiped his rescue tube from the water and gave Keith two finger guns. He swung up the side of his lifeguard chair and settled his shades on the bridge of his nose.  


Keith swiftly turned and walked back to his shady chair, a million thoughts running through his head. Did he seriously just get Lance’s number? Wait. There was one more thing he had to do. He jogged back to Lance’s chair and cleared his throat.  


“Hey, Lance? Sorry to bug you on the job, but can I ask you something?”  


“Of course. What’s up?”  


“Want to grab some fries from the snack shack after your shift?”  


“I thought you’d never ask, good sir. I would love to. Now for real, leave me alone, I’ve got a job to do,” He winked at Keith to show he was joking.  


“Oh! Okay. Sounds like a plan.”  


“Oh, and Keith? Before you pretend to drown in front of a guy, maybe check that his brother isn’t on the same swim team as you are and that he hasn’t been to all of your meets.”  


_Whoops... ___


End file.
